Sport psychologist and former North Melbourne Football Club psychologist Jacqui Louder said playing up was a common behaviour in men aged 18 to 30, but only AFL players' wrongs were thrust into the public eye.

The fact footballers are treated differently also played a role in some players' rebellion, Ms Louder said.

"We contribute - the media, the public. We makes excuses for these guys," she said.

"In the past the club would pay players' fines, not so much these days. But these days players have got the money to pay fines."

Ms Louder, who has written a thesis on athletic retirement, said post-football blues also drove some players to mess up after they hang up the boots.

Such was the case for St Kilda ruckman turned used car salesman Lazar Vidovic, who was fined $7500 for forging a magistrate's signature on five statutory declarations in 2004 while, according to his lawyer, drinking heavily and and under high stress in at his less glamorous post-footy job.

"When the lights go out and (AFL players) go home, no one cares," she said.

"The community has moved on to the next star player and they're not getting their ego boosts any more. It's quite hard for them."

The retired key-position player was also allegedly involved in a brawl outside a Port Melbourne nightclub with Collingwood teammate Ben Johnson in July 2006. Tarrant escaped with another $5000 fine by his club with no charges laid, while Johnson avoided conviction on the charges of recklessly causing injury and unlawful assault.

The star full back was found guilty of nine counts of obtaining property by deception and two of aiding and abetting the receipt of a secret commission. The scheme netted Dench a minuscule share of $5500.

Nathan BockSource:Herald Sun

Nathan BockClub: Gold Coast (formerly Adelaide)

He’s one of several AFL players to become embroiled in the AFL drugs scandal, with ASADA looking into claims he injected banned peptide CJC-1295 in late 2010. But Bock is no stranger to scandal.

The Gold Coast vice-captain and former Crow was placed on a 12-month, $200 good behaviour bond for assaulting his long-time girlfriend, slapping and throwing beer on her, on a drunken night at an Adelaide hotel in April 2009.

The defender was suspended and fined in 2011 for leaking information he would play forward in the Suns’ Round 24 clash against Hawthorn that year, helping a mate and two family members share in $40,000 of betting winnings when he kicked the first goal of the match.

Shaw was again suspended by the Pies, this time for eight weeks, in July 2011 after it was found he bet $10 on teammate Nick Maxwell to be the first goal scorer in Collingwood’s round May 22 match against Adelaide, knowing Maxwell would start in the forward line. It was also found Shaw and Maxwell shared this insider knowledge with family and friends.

Both were fined, Shaw $20,000, for breaching the AFL’s strict anti-gambling rules.

CENTRE

Daniel KerrSource:PerthNow

Daniel KerrClub: West Coast

Daniel Kerr’s stellar football career has been plagued with off-field incidents, starting back in September 2002 when he brawled with then-teammate Ben Cousins in a Perth nightclub. Two years later Kerr was found guilty of forging a prescription for valium and fined $400 by a court and $5000 by West Coast.

A month later, Kerr was fined $1800 for charges of criminal damage and assault after a boozy altercation with a taxi driver in which he jumped on the boot of a taxi, ripped off the car’s aerial and threw it at the driver’s face.

Controversy seems to follow the tatted-up Collingwood star wherever he goes, but is he really that much of a bad egg? As Collingwood president Eddie McGuire once put it, in a feature story by the Herald Sun's Mark Robinson, Swan has an element of danger about him: "He's from Broady, he's got tatts, he's got a sense of humor, he's his own man, he makes blues and he's sublime on the field.”

The talented midfielder did almost derail his footy career before it really started when was pleaded guilty to affray after he and his mates touched up a security guard at Federation Square in 2003.

The initial ruling of Scotland being placed on a diversion program without conviction was retracted when the NSW Director of Public Prosecutions successfully appealed it, placing the 32-year-old on a 12-month bond with conviction. Scotland was also fined $3000 and suspended for two matches by Carlton.

He initially escaped conviction by arguing it would prohibit his post-AFL ambition to join the fire brigade.

It was the second time Scotland had used the defence - the first was to fight charges of assault and recklessly causing injury in 2006 after he allegedly slapped a woman in the face at Crown Casino the previous year. The former Pie was then placed on a court diversion program with no conviction or guilty plea recorded.

FOLLOWERS

The ruckman-turned-used-car-salesman was fined $7500 in September 2004 for forging a magistrate’s signature on five statutory declarations after receiving several traffic infringement and penalty notices for cars from his Footscray business, Lazar Cars.

The forged declarations stated he was not behind the wheel and nominated other drivers, Melbourne's County Court heard.

Vidovic was found out when he misspelled magistrate with a “j” instead of “g” and pleaded guilty to five counts of forgery. He also suffered the humiliation of admitting he “failed spelling in grade three”.

The 80-game player’s lawyer said he was suffering “post-football blues” and was drinking heavily and snowed under at work when he committed the forgeries.

Ben Cousins (captain)Former clubs: West Coast, Richmond

Brilliant on the field but wayward off it; so wayward his stellar 270-game career was often overshadowed by his off-field indiscretions.

Cousins fights West Coast teammate Daniel Kerr in the face at a Perth nightclub in 2002 and breaks his arm after being pushed down stairs at a nightclub in a separate incident, became embroiled in a police investigation into a Perth nightclub shooting in 2005, revealing alleged gangland connections, fled a booze bus in Perth in February 2006, and was arrested for being drunk in public outside in Crown Casino in December 2006.

Before he could even pull on the red, white and black guernsey, Lovett’s new club St Kilda suspended him indefinitely in December 2009 when it was alleged the midfielder had been involved in a sexual assault. The Saints sacked Lovett the following February when he was charged with rape after a woman claimed he had raped her while she was asleep. Lovett was acquitted of two counts of rape in July 2011.

An ex-girlfriend of Lovett’s accused him of locking her in a car and repeatedly beating her in 2006.

HALF FORWARD

Jimmy Krakouer was a legend on the field, but plagued with brushes with the law off it.

The Indigenous Team of the Century inductee pleaded guilty to charges of sexual penetration of a girl under 16 in 1985. A year after his release and just shortly after getting his driver’s licence, Krakouer crashed his car into a road worker and was sentenced to 18 months jail for dangerous driving causing death.

In October 1995, the skilled player was jailed in Perth for 16 years for his part in trafficking 5.3kg of amphetamines from Melbourne to Perth. He was released in August 2004 after serving nine years.

His priors raised in the court at the time also included aggravated assault and possessing an unlicensed firearm.

Andrew Krakouer was found guilty of assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm for his role a brutal attack outside a Fremantle nightclub in December 2006 on 24-year-old Justin Martin. His brother Tyrone was also sentenced to a minimum eight months’ jail for his involvement in the assault.

The former Richmond goal sneak was released in August 2009, a self-admitted “better person” and reignited his footy career in 2010 when he signed with Collingwood.

Mathew StokesClub: Geelong

Mathew Stokes’ arrest on charges of possessing and trafficking cocaine in February 2010 sent shockwaves through his tight-knit club and the Geelong community. The much-loved Cat tearfully asked Geelong fans to forgive him, pledging to not let “something so stupid and senseless ruin my life”.

FULL FORWARD

The two-time Coleman medallist was accused of spraying a woman in face with fire extinguisher in 2001, fined $8000 after he allegedly tried to steal jackets from a North Melbourne dry cleaner later that year, kicked out of Crown with black eye in March 2004, sent home from Australia’s tour of Ireland after assaulting a barman at a Galway nightclub in 2006 and fined $10,000 by then-club Carlton for urinating on nightclub window in 2008.

The star full-forward had previously been charged with indecent assault in 1996 after grabbing a woman’s breast. The woman later sued him, but he settled her claim out of court. In 2000 he gave character evidence for the infamous Jason Moran, who was later murdered in Melbourne’s gang wars.

He left his pregnant wife Sally for model Kate Neilson in 2006, and was later arrested in the US after breaking a wine glass in Neilson’s face.

In 1991, the stellar full forward, who already had convictions for assault and burglary in the early 1980s, pleaded guilty to assaulting a pizza delivery man who talked to his estranged wife in the back of a car. He was given a $10,000 one-year good-behaviour bond.

In February 2000, 20-year-old Alisha Horan tragically died in her idol Ablett’s company in a Melbourne hotel room after consuming a lethal cocktail of drugs. He was cleared of any criminal charges in the inquest but was later fined $1500 for using and possessing heroin and ecstasy.

“We were just in the $2 shop and saw them (balaclavas) and thought it would be a bit of fun to scare young Thurlow at his new house he'd just moved into,” Caddy said afterwards. “In hindsight, we shouldn’t have done it.”

Jones, 29, admitted his decision to light the clothes of the entertainer was a childish error of judgment.

"I am embarrassed if this has caused angst and certainly had no intention to cause any harm to anyone, including the St Kilda Football Club and its members."

Alan DidakSource:Herald Sun

Alan DidakClub: Collingwood

Mercurial Magpie Alan Didak got in strife for hanging out with Hells Angels bikie Christopher Wayne Hudson just days before his 2007 CBD shooting rampage in which Hudson killed lawyer Brendan Keilar and injured two others.

The pair met in the Spearmint Rhino strip club and then travelled to a bikie clubhouse to have more drinks. Didak revealed Hudson pulled a gun and fired shots from the car window on the way.

“I didn’t know what to do,” the goal sneak said. “I didn’t want to upset Huddo in anyway…by this stage I was s---ing myself.”

EMERGENCIES

Harley BennellClub: Gold Coast

A rowdy New Year’s saw Gold Cold young gun Harley Bennell fined $3000 in April for his part in a melee in his hometown of Mandurah, south of Perth. The 20-year-old was out with friends when a series of fights broke out when hundreds of revellers were sent on to the streets after the town’s nightclubs shut.

He pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct and failure to obey an order given by a police officer.

Matthew CampbellFormer club: North Melbourne

The North Melbourne small forward “went to town” kicking a car outside Crown after reacting angrily to being thrown out of the casino for being intoxicated last September. The car, believed to be owned by a Crown staff member, was seriously dented and Campbell arrested on the spot.

Former Sydney star Cresswell was sentenced to three years’ jail, suspended after 10 months, after being convicted of two counts of aggravated fraud in December 2010. The 224-game player pleaded guilty to dishonesty obtaining more than $300,000 from the National Bank Australia through forged loan applications in 2005 and 2006.

Setanta O’hAilpin launched an attack on then-Carlton teammate Cameron Cloke during an intra-club match in February 2009, punching then kicking a hapless Cloke after he’d fallen to the ground. The fiery Irishman was suspended indefinitely by Carlton and sidelined for four weeks by the AFL tribunal.

Steven BakerSource:Herald Sun

Retired Saint Steven Baker, who incurred 28 weeks’ worth of suspensions across his AFL career for on-field indiscretions, copped a life ban from footy after breaking Red Hill player Blake Thompson’s jaw in March while playing in the Mornington Peninsula Football League. The ban was later overturned on appeal.

AND EVEN MORE TROUBLED PLAYERS ... OR PLAYERS GETTING INTO TROUBLE:

Robert Muir(formerly St Kilda) – “Mag Dog” avoided an immediate jail term for four driving offences (including driving while disqualified and driving with a blood alcohol reading of 0.19) after winning an appeal against his two-month sentence in March 2004. The former Saint was placed on a community-based order for 12 months, sentenced to two one-month jail terms, suspended for 12 months, banned from driving for three years and two months and fined $500.

Rod Owen(formerly St Kilda) – the troubled former Saint was sentenced to nine months behind bars in December 2000 for viciously assaulting his boss. “Rocket” was plagued by the drink, the County Court heard at the time, when he broke Lindsay John Burgess's nose and upper jaw. In 2004 he paid a woman $30,000 compensation after she claimed he assaulted her outside his brother’s Port Melbourne hotel.

Dustin Martin (Richmond) – the subject of social media speculation over summer which had Martin under surveillance from police, soon to be sacked by the Tigers and being investigated by the Australian Crime Commission – none of which turned out to be true – the football world has dubbed Martin a bad boy on little evidence. The 21-year-old’s biggest crime to date was sleeping through training last July with sacked teammate Daniel Connors after the pair took sleeping pills, earning him a two week suspension.

Campbell Brown and Maverick Weller (Gold Coast) – Gold Coast’s Brown and Weller were detained after allegedly getting involved in a fight with a Thai policeman on Koh Phangan – the island famous for its Full Moon Party – on an end of season trip in September 2011. Reports suggested Brown went to his Weller’s assistance after the young player was provoked by an Australian tourist, with an off-duty policeman also getting involved in the reported punch-on. The players were released without charge.

Jason Akermanis– a bad boy, or just someone with a big, bad mouth? Aker has been cited for a host of insensitive and offensive remarks, including claiming “an opposing player” was using performance enhancing drugs in 2007 – an unproven accusation for which Akermanis later apologised, for stating just two days after his death in March 2012 that Melbourne legend Jim Stynes was “a nasty man in his day” and questioning his deservedness of a state funeral, and writing a Herald Sun column in May 2010 urging gay AFL players to stay in the closet.

Former swimsuit designer Nicky Rowsell claimed Buddy stood over her and yelled in her face, while Franklin later suggested on Twitter that Rowsell had started the row. The Coleman medallist was also reportedly warned about his off-field behaviour after a drunken incident in a corporate box the Grand Prix.